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Mobile Assistance Unit Helps Homeless In Dangerous Cold

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Volunteer Len Strauch; Milton Alvarez, street medicine outreach professional; Dr. Ralph Ryan. (WBBM Newsradio/Steve Miller)

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) – The Night Ministry visited several dozen homeless people Tuesday to check on them and try to get them to go to indoor shelters.

Lower Wacker Drive: piles of blankets and cardboard. Underneath those piles were people who have no homes.


Dr. Ralph Ryan of the Night Ministry has an ear thermometer to check temperatures.

"Your body temperature is low," Ryan told one person. "So, even though you're not shivering, you're too cold. Is there any chance we can get you to a warming place? Do you know where the warming shelters are? How to get to them?"

"Yeah, I know how to get to Pacific Garden Mission."

"Do you need a bus card to get there?"

"No, I don't need a bus card."

"I just don't trust him to make good decisions," he said. "He's not likely to leave that spot."

The Night Ministry says its street medicine outreach team talked to about 50 people Tuesday and offered help to all. Four people went to shelters.